A Long Way Down

[ShadowWalker]

Draconis finally relented to the darkness, not like he had much choice. Suddenly, he saw how this was going to play out, he was going to die. Strength filled his limbs, his mind sharpened, and a voice spoke to him.

Kill. Survive.

Just after Omnis spoke, Draconis sent a push out to move him backwards, and propel him to his feet. He reached out with the force, retrieving his two lightsabers, and returning them to their positions. His new master then show'd him what he was to do next, and Draconis was lifted into the air as it revealed to him true power. His voice was dark, cold, and distant as he roared in defiance.

"YOU CHOSE WRONG OMNIS, NOW I WILL FINISH WHAT YOU STARTED! I WILL BECOME MORE POWERFUL THAN YOU COULD EVER IMAGINE!"

He then rocketed to the ground, and slammed his fists into it, unleashing a massive, earth shattering, force wave, that caused the ground in front of him to ripple with the shock wave. With a roar, he reached out with the force, and began tearing the place apart, causing more to fall, and the chaos of the place increase. And then with a massive push, he propelled himself to the hangar. He landed lightly, and the guards who were there turned and yelled as they raised their weapons.

"STOP!!"

Draconis didn't even raise his hand as one was lifted into the air and crushed, the other was slammed into the wall. As Draco walked on board he could hear the man scream as his own knife came out of its sheath, and proceeded to gut him. Draconis got into the pilot's chair, and began starting up the ship, using the force to already get it underway, and to help get the copilot's position filled. The ship took off, and began to climb skyward, right into space. As soon as he got far enough away from the planet's gravity well, Draco put the ship into hyperspace. It was time to find something to make his power complete. To make them pay. Omnis, the Umbaran, Phiro, The Jedi, all of them.

 

[Ben]

Omnis watched as the boy sent out shock waves and leapt to the landing platform; the Sith had not been expecting this maneuver, and whilst caught in his revels, he was taken off-guard, and sent tumbling backwards into a ravine that had been spread wider by the young mad-mans tremors. Rhuine cursed as he fell, slowing his descent with the Force and managing to find purchase in one of the cracks along the ravine wall. Precious moments had passed and were passing as he gathered himself with the Force and jumped from wall to wall as he ascended the twenty or so meters back to surface-level.

By now ships engines were roaring as it hurtled towards the outer atmosphere, too far away and travelling to fast for Rhuine to stop it with the Force now. That ship was the only way off the planet, and now he would have to wait for a rescue from one of his contacts, stranded and desperate gave of a weak vibe, something he was no eager to do. He seethed in quiet rage as he watched the ship disappear into the black, and waited for his new apprentice to join him.

 

[Catharsis]

Zarathustra watched as her rival, who was just about to fall by her blade, propelled himself backwards and rose into the air with a roar. Her jaw tightened, her anger increasing, pooling and threatening to bubble over as he sent her flying backwards with the shockwave. She raised her arms to defend her face from the worst of the battering that was sent all around the area but managed to keep herself in place thanks to the 'training' she'd had the night before with grounding herself against harsh winds and the like. Her anger turned to rage, however, when her rival slipped away into the hangar bay, killing two good men in a heart beat. NO! She screamed mentally; he was getting away. She found her feet and rose from the floor, glancing around for Omnis who, at this point, was nowhere to be seen. She launched herself from the spot she was standing in and propelled herself forwards with a carefully placed use of Force Speed, to try and intercept Draco and the ship he'd chosen, yet before she was at the hangar bay the ship was off through the air.

From the ground she made one last ditch attempt to stop him, hurling a piece of the rocky landscape which he'd broken off with his shock wave towards the ship, but it was futile. It missed by an inch, and Draco was gone before she could try again. Bastard she thought, as she turned to find Omnis back on the surface. She managed to keep her rage from spilling over, yet she could feel her own power grow with each moment she allowed it to remain within her. Was this what it felt like to actually harbour and use the darkside? If so, then she'd finally found her 'muse'. She stepped across to Omnis' side and said, in a quiet yet deadly voice "I want his head." The way she spoke, the way she looked at him, made it clear that not even Omnis could get in her way with this one. Yet the Umbaran was patient, and she knew that one day she might have just that chance.

 

[Ben]

Omnis looked at her in disappointment, she had not yet quite learned the difference between true hatred and hot-headed anger, he didn't mean to belittle her emotions, but she was not quite there yet. "Why chase a weaker quarry when you can hunt the Dark Side?" He asked, arching an eyebrow. "Do not mistake what you just witnessed as power, girl. No, you or I could do that if we chose to lose our minds. That was a lack of control. He was not strong enough, his hatred was not great enough to harness the Dark Side." Omnis would probably follow up this Draco situation, but now wasn't the time, and he didn't know what he would do yet regardless.

"Like I said, the Dark Side is a corrupting illness, a price you must pay for its power. Try to take too much before you are ready for it, and what happened to Draco is a result; unless of course you are truly unique in your evil and power... unfortunately we aren't." Omnis frowned for a second before taking her my the elbow and guiding her inside. He reached out for the hound that followed her and bent its will to his own, beckoning it to come back to the girl in the hopes it would distract her.

"No, unfortunately we must work for our greatness. You have started to develop your hatred, like we covered last night. However hatred alone is not enough, it needs direction, purpose, a goal you desire above all else." Omnis cooed these words, hoping to distract the girl and whet her apatite for power. "You are a fully fledged Sith now, I think it is time we talked about changing your name."

 

[Catharsis]

The Umbaran picked up on his disappointment and bristled ever so slightly, before hearing his words and understanding. If not for Omnis she might have fallen for it, but it was true; she had sensed it from within her former rivals mind herself, the snap which spiraled him off into the darkness. She would not let herself become like that. With a new found understanding glistening in her eyes she turned her gaze once more to her Master and nodded thoughtfully, the hatred and the anger removing itself visually from her to reside within once again, under her control to be released when she desired.

Zarathustra's connection with the vornskr pricked up the moment Omnis tried to bend its will to his own. The vornskr was surprisingly strong of mind, a slight whimper in her mind revealing his initial reluctance to follow another persons command, yet with a very slight urging from Zara that he should indeed return was more than enough to set her companion back on track to returning. She did not show any outward sign of any of this, simply saying; "Then I will find a purpose." After all, she didn't want Omnis to know just how strong her connection with the beast was, nor its own will.

It wasn't long before Rythra was at her heels walking alongside them and as such she settled a hand to the top of his head and continued to be led by the elbow through the academy. "I thought we weren't Sith" she muttered, more to herself than to Omnis, before adding "A new name..?" While not really disputing the idea, the Umbaran was simply curious as to why this was necessary. It was apparent she still hadn't fully adjusted to life away from her Umbaran heritage.

 

[Ben]

"Not being part of the current Empire and Sith Order are completely different things to not being Sith at all." Rhuine admonished. They had reached the upper levels of the academy now, his private chamber, he turned to the girl, offering a faux-smile "No dogs allowed." He gestured her through whilst cutting of the beasts entry.

"As for the name, it is an important part of becoming a Sith, it signifies the catharsis of all the weakness and petty idealisms and goals of who you were. It prepares you to become something new, stronger, Sith." He clasped his hands in front of himself and reclined into the large hanging chair, offer one to his new apprentice also.

 

[Catharsis]

She looks thoughtful for a moment, as she passed through into his chambers. One look at Rythra was all it took for the vornskr to sit and wait outside the rooms for them, overly obedient to his master. She listens to what he says as she moves further into the room and takes the seat which was offered. "Of course..." She mutter to the first part, raising a hand to her chin in thought, before leaning back and watching him. "When do I need to decide a name?"

 

[Ben]

"Take your time, the name should not be something that decides who you are, or what your current ambitions are. The name should reflect what you are at the core of you, not a fickle passing desire, or an immediate goal. Something that will stick, something that brings out what you really are." Omnis had remember choosing his own title as a self-granted Dark Lord, Omnis... omnipotents, omnipresence, omniscience, he found it quite ironic, since he worked in shadow.

 

[Catharsis]

She raises a hand to rub her neck in thought, her eyes glazing over for just a moment, before she nodded her head. "I'll think on it." Leaning back fully in the hanging chair she brought her legs up to rest beside her, watching Omnis with a thoughtful frown. After a moment she realised where she was, and glanced around. Why was she being permitted access to his personal chambers? And why wasn't the vornskr allowed inside? The loss of her companion often made her feel... Naked, exposed. She supposed she'd have to get used to it, a hound such as Rythra was sure to attract attention and be remembered/recognised.

 

[Ben]

(OOC - She has been in here before his personal quarters are somewhere else and less lavish)

Omnis noticed the girls confused glances around the room and chose to ignore them. He merely nodded when he replied 'I'll think on it', instead considering how to word his next, and more serious order of business. "Now, you are my fully realized apprentice. No more competitors, no more games. Just training, and the Dark Side. Pain and hatred and power will be your life until you have the strength to challenge me, if you ever do. Now however, we must perpare, we must begin to plan your training. Learn your strengths so that we can hone them, and discover you weaknesses to make you suffer for them."

"There is only one thing I need to ask. Are you ready to commit yourself fully to the Dark Side?"

 

[Catharsis]

"Pain does not scare me, hatred I'm already embracing, and power I seek" she said, a little too openly. There was a change in the girl, one which wasn't that great, like her true personality was suddenly shining through. Her formerly thoughtful self was overtaken by something else. She seemed abashed at the notion of weaknesses, and narrows her eyes, but he asked her a question soon after and so she had to reply; "Yes, I am ready" she said, in a way which suggested she had always been ready, yet the change in her was too obvious, and even Zarathustra herself seemed to notice them, frowning at herself.

 

[Ben]

Omnis regarded the girl coldly as she proclaimed her own aptitude, he had wondered if he had made the right choice as he watched Draconis dart free and knock Omnis back; he may have not been as purely despicable as this girl was, but there was something about the solidarity of his power hungry character that fomented doubt in Rhuine's mind. Now as the girl sat opposite him, openly espousing her brilliance, he could not help but feel his doubts compounding. Would this girl really have the unbridled hatred and hunger and discipline that one needed to be a Sith Lord, that he needed to accomplish his goals and to present sufficient challenge to him as a potential successor?

He did not know the answers now, the Force gave him no glint currently as to whether or not this girl was the one he saw rising to power, or just merely another cog in the machine to his own rise to power. He would see, one way or another.

"That remains to be seen." As the words left his mouth, he felt a ripple through the Force that was at once glorious and sickening. It was as if the Dark Side itself was be twisted and contorted into something... darker? No, not darker, more desperate and depraved; it was a miasmic shock wave of death and hunger, corruption and despair, and it felt very far away. To affect him so profoundly, it had to be a massive disturbance in the Force at the epicenter of whatever was causing the troubling aura; he gave no outwards sign as he surveyed Zarathustra, hoping to glean acknowledgement from her expression as to whether or not she too felt this monstrosity. If she did react - which would be a violent reaction for someone with her lack of training - then he would dismiss his doubts for the moment, but if she did not, or if she only displayed minor trauma at the phenomena, it would confirm her disconnectedness from the dark side, and his suspicions of her weakness.